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State Department Releases 2024 Foreign Gifts Report for Biden Officials

The annual filing explains how 2024 gifts to Biden-era officials were documented under federal rules.

Overview

  • The Bureau of Protocol posted the 2024 accounting in the Federal Register on Jan. 29, listing gifts over the $480 threshold and excluding any items from the first year of Trump’s second term.
  • President Biden’s priciest item was a $19,000 Angolan painting sent to the National Archives, alongside a $7,750 sterling silver train set from India and a $7,089 road bike from the UAE, with accompanying dates destroyed by the Secret Service.
  • Jill Biden received an $11,165 gift of a diamond necklace and perfume from Qatar, with the necklace archived and the emptied perfume bottle retained, and a separate Dior bracelet was purchased while a Sèvres vase was archived.
  • A CIA employee reported receiving $15,000 in cash from a foreign official, and the funds were turned over to the Federal Reserve as recorded in the filing.
  • Most items were transferred to the National Archives or GSA, perishables were disposed of per Secret Service policy, and a few were kept for official use, including CIA Director William Burns’s $3,000 horse saddle and a $3,700 statue reported by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for GSA transfer.